Friday, June 17, 2011

REBECCA BLACK REMOVES "FRIDAY" FROM YOUTUBE AND VEVO

Yesterday, Rebecca Black removed her infamous video "Friday" [now up to 160 million views] from YouTube due to a copyright infringement claim against her record company Ark Music Factory. A rep for Rebecca told TMZ, "We can confirm that we submitted a Take Down Notice to YouTube as a result of the dispute we have with Ark Music regarding the 'Friday' video."

Rebecca Black, only 13 years old, and Ark Music Factory are disputing over rights to the popular viral song. Ark Music Factory is a "vanity" production company that aspiring artists or parents of aspiring artists paid thousands of dollars for videos to be written, filmed, and promoted hence their tagline "Get Discovered!"

The video was removed a few days after Ark Music Factory started charging viewers $2.99 to watch it. In response Rebecca Black tweeted, "Thanks for all the messages regarding the $2.99 fee added to Friday video, I have NOTHING to do with this!!"

A YouTube spokesperson spoke to TechCrunch about the issue saying, "YouTube takes copyright infringement very seriously. When we receive a complaint alleging that a video infringes another person or company’s copyrights, we remove that video. Users who believe that a video was removed in error can appeal the copyright takedown."

Rebecca Black due to worldwide success has never got the master recordings she was entitled to by contract. The Hollywood Reporter says, "In March, Black's lawyers sent a letter to Ark Music, accusing the company of copyright infringement and unlawful exploitation of her publicity rights." While her manager and lawyer are investigating the fee in this matter, the "director's cut" of the video was available for free on Rebecca Black's VEVO page, only to be taken down moments later. Even upon clicking on her VEVO page, YouTube has said, "RebeccaBlackOnVEVO has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of our Community Guidelines."